A review by breq
A Strange and Stubborn Endurance by Foz Meadows

adventurous emotional mysterious tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

This book has EVERYTHING.  I loved the central romance, although it did feel a little fast.  I had my suspicions about who was behind all the plotting, and I turned out to be correct, but I never felt certain until the page before it was revealed.  I really enjoyed the worldbuilding, especially the contrast between the two main countries we see, and especially as it related to queerness.  Vel was such a great character and I loved seeing him blossom as the book went on.  I don't know if a sequel is planned but it felt like there was a possible setup for one, and I hope it's coming!  Also, the food descriptions made me hungry.
I adore arranged marriage plotlines, and I loved how this one was handled.  There was some miscommunication between the characters, but there were very good reasons relating to cultural differences.  I appreciated that they did actually talk to each other a lot of the time, and they worked their problems out.
The way the villain's motivation was set up was really great, and it make me feel a lot of the emotions the characters felt when they found out, because I was also upset and wished things could have gone differently.
This isn't really a spoiler because it happens so early, but
it can be very hard to write a fairly graphic, on-page rape scene in first-person and I thought it was well handled without being just overwhelmingly awful.

I did at times feel like elements of the plot went too fast--the main relationship and recovery from a traumatic event getting to the place that it ended up--but hey, everyone's different.
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